What I Wore For Winter Rush + Sorority Life Update

Apr 10

Written By Renee

Dressing for sorority recruitment in the winter is quite the tough feat... it's freezing cold outside and then so stuffy standing in a room with a hundred girls once you're inside. Luckily it wasn't too cold this year and our organizations outgrew their houses so most rounds were within the student center so we didn't have to wear too many layers. It was frustrating trying to find inspiration for what to wear because all over Pinterest girls wear Lilly and sundresses for rush, but that clearly wasn't appropriate for January.

I had the opportunity to meet up with Cathleen Slagle for some pictures last weekend while she was touring Elon and it was so fun shooting different outfits and meeting her in real life! She is so sweet and is a great photographer!

We shot two of the outfits I wore for recruitment and I will also be sharing (a long overdue and probably too long) sorority update!

For our first two rounds it was recommended that we dress like we normally would, but I still wanted to look put together, so I opted for a dress the first day and added a nice pair of shoes the second day. For in between rounds I wore my Barbour jacket and brought some slippers to stay comfy and warm.

Day 1

Shirt (I actually wore this one, but I like this one better for winter) | Jeans | Shoes
Purse | Monogram Ring | Necklace
Side note on the purse: I used my small Longchamp every day and brought a water bottle, mints (a MUST have), snacks and chapstick!

For the third day of recruitment, our preference round, I wore this outfit but swapped the Jacks for a pair of nude heels. It was recommended that we wear cocktail dresses that were on the conservative side. This round was in the houses and we had to stand outside to wait to get in, so this is where we did the whole sweatshirt and jacket and sweatpants and slippers over our dresses.
(It was quite the look)

On bid day I received a bid from Alpha Omicron Pi and I'm going to be honest- it wasn't my top choice so I wasn't too excited. However, I went through those three days of rush and figured I might as well give it a go and see how I feel about it during the new member period. I was also very optimistic about the whole process because I was 110% happy not being in a sorority so it wouldn't be the end of the world if I decided it wasn't for me. Our new member period was filled with all kinds of activities and meetings and meals with sisters and other new members and I quickly found a great group of gals that I was constantly hanging out with (we seemed to frequent fried chicken Thursday in the dining hall). It's not realistic to be absolute best friends with every person in your sorority so you just have to find your group within the organization! And even if you're not super close with everybody it's great to have so many familiar faces walking around campus and in your classes.
I was initiated a few weeks ago just before spring break and am such a happy gal in AOII now!

Ok now for a million other pictures I never posted (sorry this is actually the longest blog post I've ever written).